In Drea’s case, her white boyfriend Max is believed by all her friends, and she is not. The movie veers away from misogynistic clichés like “she asked for it” or “she deserved it,” but Drea is effectively cut off from her friends and isolated from any kind of support network, showing that women of colour still lose even in so-called woke environments. The consequences for telling the truth are swift: She spends the summer alone, while her ex-best friend starts a new relationship with Max. Moreover, the white woman who runs the school, played by
Sarah Michelle Gellar, puts Drea on probation instead of punishing the school’s “golden boy” for the violation. Later, Drea’s future is also threatened by her response to the violence enacted against her: Her dream Ivy League college rejects her application because she punched the boy who hurt her. This also points to the reality of how survivors of gender violence are often punished harshly for reacting to the harm they experienced. For instance, according to
the ACLU, as many as 94% of some women’s prison populations have a history of physical or sexual abuse before being incarcerated.